Half to michael clune



W. AA. COCHRAN.

CURTAIN STRBTGHER.

No. 532,416. Patented Jan. 8, 1895.

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Aup over thel upper rail, while the other end l D TATES VILLIAM A. COCHRAN, lOF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO MIOHAEL OLUNE, OF SAME PLACE.

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SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 532,416, dated V.Ianuary 8,1895.

Application filed March 6, 1894- Serial No. 502,553. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. COCHRAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indian apolis, in the county of Marion. and State of Indiana, have-invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ourtain-Stretchers, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my Said invention is to produce a simple, inexpensive andeasily constructed curtainrstret'cher, in which the attaching points shall be adjustable, and to which the curtains in being stretched for drying (after being laundered) may be easily attached and detached.

Said invention will be iirst fully described, and the novel features thereof then pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are madea part hereof, and on which similar letters of reference indicate similar parts, Figure 1 is a plan view of a curtain stretcher embodying my said invention, ona smallscale, partof one of the rails being broken away; Figs. 2 and 3, detail views of the corners on an enlarged scale, on the dotted lines 2 2 and 3 3, respectively; Fig. 4, a fragmentary view of one of the rails, substantially ordinary full size; Fig. 5, atransverse sectional view, on the dotted line 5 5 in Fig. 2; Fig. 6,A asimilar View on the dotted line 6 6, and Fig. '7 a View, on an exaggerated scale, of one of the hooks, separately'.

In said drawings the portions marked A represent the rails of the curtain stretcher; B, the pivot rods, and O the hooks.

The rails A are in themselves ,ordinary side and end rails to sucha frame, and are united at the corners by spring clamps A', which said clamps are of a peculiar construction. They are formed of spring wire, and preferably in a single piece, with a large loop at one end which surrounds the under rail, and the middle portion of the clamp passes thence passes down below thev under rail,- against which it bears, and where it terminates preferably in a turned handle a.

In operation the rails are slid to the proper relative position, and the clamp brought down, and the'end forced under the under rail, as shown, which holds the parts firmly together. There are, as will be seen, two bearing points on the under rail directly fromfthe spring wire, and this is quite sufficient to prevent slipping on said rail. In the middle at the top upon the clamp I may provide a small device ot', with points entering the wood which will effectually prevent slipping upon this rail. Grooves are formed longitudinally of these rails, and preferably about centrally thereof, to receive the rods B, and the screw eyes by which said rods are attached to said rails. The rods B are secured in the grooves in the Vfaces of the rails A by means of screw eyes b, and serve as pivots for the hooks C which are strung thereon.

The hooks O are formed of Wire, and are strung upon the rod B and extend thence out to the edge of the rails A or a little beyond, where their hooked ends are formed. As shown in the drawings, the pivot rods are central of the frame-pieces, and thus, as particularly illustrated in Fig. 5, the hooks are sheathed, so to speak, by swinging them from one side to the other, as the hook points, when swung back outof operative position will extend closely down alongside the framepieces, where nothing will engage therewith. The hooks thus may always remain properly distributed in vposition for use, and at the same time all except those actually in use can be removed'from any probabilityof catching or tearingthe clothing of the user. There are a greater number of these hooks than are ordinarllyexpected to be employed, so that they can be attached to the curtains at any desired points, and, being perfectly free to move along the rods between the screw-eyes, can be shifted from point to point as may be desired, and thus where curtains are provided w-ith scalloped edges the hooks can be attached just at the points which will` best keep the scallops in place-inl drying. By providing a large number of these hooks I am also enabled to separately attach several curtains to the frame at once, so that they may be drying at the same time. In doing this I first attachy one curtain by a sufficient number of hooks, the others being thrown back in the position indicated by one of the hooks in Fig. 5. After the first curtain is thus secured another curtain is placed on top of it and at- IOO tached in the same manner by an additional number of hooks, and a third or fourth or more may be similarly attached by successive similar manipulations.

rlike whole apparatus is very simple, easily adjusted and durable, and inexpensive to manufacture.

Having thus fullydescribed my said invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination, in acurtain stretcher, of `the rails A, the pivot rods secured to said rails centrally of one face thereof, and the hooks C pi voted upon said rods and adapted when swung inwardly to engage with and support the curtain being dried, and when swung outwardly to have their points extend down over the outer edges of said framepieces and be thus protected, substantially 2o as set forth.

2. The combination, ina curtain stretcher, of the rails having grooves formed in their faces, rods secured in said grooves by screweyes, hooks mounted upon said rods between said screw-eyes, and adjustable thereon, and

spring corner-clamps uniting the rails, said lhand and seal at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 2d day of March, A. D. 1894.

WILLIAM A. COCHRAN. Witnesses:

CHESTER BRADFORD, J AMES A. WALSH.

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